Suddenly charging to 70% only

[Eco Jon]

My little faithful (Ion) has just stopped taking a full charge. The bars only go up to 70% and the range is around 40 miles. Sometimes if I plug the charger in again iit will go higher. I really want to extend the life of this great little car. Does anyone know any experts or have any suggestions. I have tried another charger and a rapid charger but the result is the same. Please help!! Also does anyone know an app that I can use to try and identify the problem?

 

[JoeS]

@Eco Jon, welcome to the forum. Sadly, it appears that your traction battery may be losing one or more cells. This symptom was one of the conditions for a Mitsubishi warranty battery replacement.

Here's a list of the apps, as I believe all of them will show the individual cell voltages (I use CaniOn as I like its graphic display):
https://myimiev.com/threads/smartphone-tablet-apps-for-i-miev-c-zero-and-ion.4936/

What you might try is depleting your battery to below two bars and then slowly let the car charge to 100% until it turns off by itself. This allows the BMS to re-calibrate a little and attempt to balance the cells a little.

BTW, it's always fun to know where in the world someone is located, as we occasionally find other i-MiEV owners close to us. You might consider updating your profile (which will show your location by your username whenever you post), the procedure described here:
https://myimiev.com/threads/admin-how-to-let-us-know-where-you-are-located.5446/

 

[JoeS]

@ Eco Jon, thanks for adding your location (New Forest). Oooh, I see it's not far from the National Motor Museum.

Is there anyone in Jon's vicinity with an OBD dongle and app who might help Jon check his battery?

(Note: Jon and I had exchanged a PM as he asked about 12v battery health as well)

 

[MickeyS70]

Unlike in many other countries, the UK have an excellent network of independent EV/PHEV specialists garages:

https://hevra.org.uk/

 

[Eco Jon]

Thanks for all of your input. I'll report back when I've got some news!

 

[Eco Jon]

Desperate for advice or pointers..... My initial problem has worsened drastically and now the car does one of three things.

• Doesn't charge at all despite the fan noise starting
• Only charges to 25%
• Charges to 75%

The car will only charge after repeated charging attempts. I have tried different chargers and completely flattened the battery and no difference. I will be plugging a dongle into the car when it arrives but wondered if anyone had any ideas in the meantime.

If it's a repair/part that would be good otherwise I feel the car will become a donor.

 

[MickeyS70]

If it's a repair/part that would be good otherwise I feel the car will become a donor.

Without further diagnostic information (via OBD dongle/app) it’s difficult to recommend a course of action, however if the car doesn’t CHAdeMON charge either, it’s unlikely to be an OBC problem and rather pointing to a HV battery issue as @JoeS suggested.

A weak and worn 12V Aux battery is also known to cause all sorts of strange issues, I would replace it (charge it fully overnight) to start troubleshooting with a clean slate.

https://www.gogreenautos.co.uk/how-tos/mitsubishi-i-miev-12v-auxiliary-battery